- Jeff Reitz, 50, broke the Guinness World Record for most consecutive visits to Disneyland with 2,995 trips over 8 years, 3 months and 13 days.
- He started visiting the theme park in 2012 as a joke and used it as a source of free entertainment.
- It started as a joke between friends when Disneyland announced they were giving an ‘Extra Disney Day’.
After visiting the Happiest Place on Earth about 3,000 times, a Californian man on Tuesday broke the Guinness World Record for the most continuous trips.
In 2012, Jeff Reitz, 50, began going to the theme park every day. For the next eight years, three months, and 13 days, he made 2,995 trips.
When Disneyland announced that they would be giving a “Extra Disney Day” when they announced the Leap Day 24-hour event in 2012, the Huntington Beach guy said that it initially originated as a joke between friends.
Since we were unemployed and had been given annual passes, we made the decision to use Disneyland as a positive because it provided us with free amusement. “It helped to get us out and create a positive outlook, document exercise with all the steps completed, and always network since you never know who you’d meet,” one participant said.
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“Over the years, I took both group and solo excursions to Disneyland,” he remarked. My schedule became quite consistent, so more people had to express an interest in joining the fun.
Even having a full-time job, Reitz explained, “I had to closely monitor the park calendar in addition to mine to make sure I could get into Disneyland before it closed when they had special events.
Reitz told Guinness that after turning on social media at the start of each visit, “Normally, I would stroll across the park. As I like to take pictures, I was constantly looking for things to snap and share online.”
He continued, “Some days I would go on a number of the attractions, and other days I could concentrate on a certain area of the park. “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is the only “ride” that Disneyland offers. But my favorite attraction has always been the Matterhorn Bobsleds.”
For the Leap Day 24-hour event in 2012, which was Seitz’s 60th consecutive visit to the park, a reporter who had been following Reitz’s posts about going to Disneyland every day approached him, according to Guinness.
Reitz recalled how his journey gained attention: “Then on 2012 July 1, halfway through the year, the Orange County Register reporter printed a story about making it to Day 183, and then the Associated Press picked up the story and it became real as I was getting contacted by newspapers and radio stations from around the world asking for interviews.” Eventually visitors to the parks began to approach me for photos and autographs.
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After visiting the park continuously for 366 days, Reitz was presented with a gift basket and certificates of Honorary Citizenship, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
They gave me dinner as well for finishing the second year, he added. “Finally, when I hit Day 2000 in 2017, they gave me a gift backpack.”
Others have attempted to replicate Reitz’s Disneyland exploits in the past.
I have always wished them well and said “good luck,” Reitz remarked. “With the time it takes to set a record like this, you learn a lot, including time management and budgeting so that you can have a life and accomplish more than just one thing.
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Reitz would have gone to the park 3000 times had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic interrupting his streak on March 14, 2020. He is eager to go back, though, to celebrate Disney’s 100th anniversary this year.
Reitz said, “I haven’t decided on a return date yet, but right now I think it would be incredibly cool to come back with my Guinness World Records title certificate and have pictures where I won it – inside Disneyland.
Yet overall, Reitz is content to keep the record for the longest streak of visits to the happy place.
Although it was a surprise to me as well, I have only notified a small number of people thus far, but I anticipate that everyone will be thrilled and glad that I have attained the distinction that the majority of people believed I deserved.
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